Film trailerWhat is a film trailer?

A film trailer is visual preview of the feature film (an advert). Its an important part of the marketing strategy and is made to build up anticipation and excitement for when the theatre film is released. Trailers are made by company making the film – e.g. Universal films. A trailer usually includes the best bits of a movie , the funniest stuff and the most action packed stuff usually. They should give an idea of what the movie is about , the basis of it , who’s in it and plot however the storyline should never be given away in a trailer and should instead be cliffhanger (makes the viewer want to watch the full movie). Movie trailers are also made to accompany the posters and any other media advertisement.

Trailers are shown on the TV , Online (YouTube , Facebook ect.) or in the theatre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvUxdQ4q-Lg is a good example of a action packed trailer where the plot is easy to follow.

Why are they made?

They are made to encourage someone to watch the movie. Either going to the cinema and watching it or buying the DVD copy when its released or at best.. Both.If they can encourage enough people to to go to the cinema with just trailers and posters , the film company that made the film will have huge sales.

For example:Inception built up so much anticipation that they grossed a massive $32734000 in the weekend of its release on box office.

Who are they for?

The appropriate audience varies with the type of film and genre. For example:A Horror film will not appeal or be appropriate to a toddler.

Trailers are for the target audience of the film. For example:An action packed film about drug lords and war would be appropriate and appeal to the target age range of 18-55.

There are variety of ways these trailer meet their target audience.

How do they work?

The main aim is to encourage the person watching to see the full film and the best way is to create anticipation and shock them ( with lots of action ).

A cliffhanger ending to a trailer will do the trick and make the viewer want to see “what happens next”. This is another reason to why you shouldn’t reveal the full storyline but instead give them an idea of it.

An example of a film trailer that does this is Project X. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rl1TJG17Wk&feature=relmfu

Where do we see them?

We see film advertisements every day but trailer’s can be found online , for example Youtube , official facebook pages and trailers that are shared through social media , TV adverts and film programmes , film events and in cinema’s before films.

When are they released?

Trailers are realised just after the announcement of the film to the public and quite abit before the film is released in cinema. This gives the film plenty publicity and anticipation/excitement before its released so that they make allot of profit.

Battleship market campaign

A fleet of ships is forced to do battle with an armada of unknown origins in order to discover and thwart their destructive goals. This film is a sci-fi adventure movie aimed at the ages 12 (12a) – 50.

Battleship was released in cinema’s April 2012. 3 trailers plus other official Battleship videos were released before the movie was in cinema. I sourced this from YouTube , were they had an official page featuring the trailers with gained close to 10 million. That may not seem like alot but the video’s received lots of shares on social media and also there were lots of other rips of the trailer on YouTube which accounts for another 15 million views. Featuring movie trailers has become standard practice to film companies as it is free to use and has access to a mass market that equates to millions. Not only does YouTube have a big audience but also a specific audience.

The official page has an interactive game that gets the audience involved with what the movie is about. The game helps you unlock snippets of film. This is becoming increasingly popular with film companies.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BattleshipMovie?feature=watch

Battleship was produced by Universal pictures meaning the trailer was too.The 3 official trailers are no longer than 2 and a half minutes so that it doesnt give too much of the plot away. The first trailer is the shortest making the audience want to see more every time. The second is longer and the third is the longest. The third trailer was released one month ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7P30hMeKlE&feature=plcp&context=C4426252VDvjVQa1PpcFNnTniPIONx1lPVjFd_OTWRhIKuvoMncSo%3D

Universal also made a unique set of movie posters to build up its popularity , some featured general pictures of the movie and other , pictures of the actors in it.